substitute

American  

[suhb-sti-toot, -tyoot] / ˈsʌb stɪˌtut, -ˌtjut /

noun

• substitutes
  plural

1. a person or thing acting or serving in place of another.

   Synonyms:

   equivalent, replacement, alternative

2. (formerly) a person who, for payment, served in an army or navy in the place of a conscript.

3. Grammar. a word that functions as a replacement for any member of a class of words or constructions, as do in He doesn't know but I do.

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verb (used with object)

• substitutes,
  present (3rd person singular)
• substituted,
  past participle,  past
• substituting
  present participle

1. to put (a person or thing) in the place of another.

2. to take the place of; replace.

3. Chemistry. to replace (one or more elements or groups in a compound) by other elements or groups.

verb (used without object)

• substitutes,
  present (3rd person singular)
• substituted,
  past participle,  past
• substituting
  present participle

1. to act as a substitute.

adjective

1. of or relating to a substitute or substitutes.

2. composed of substitutes.

substitute British  

/ ˈsʌbstɪˌtjuːt /

verb

1. (often foll by for) to serve or cause to serve in place of another person or thing

2. chem to replace (an atom or group in a molecule) with (another atom or group)

3. logic maths to replace (one expression) by (another) in the context of a third, as replacing x + y for x in 3 x = k gives 3 x + 3 y = k

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noun

1. 1. a person or thing that serves in place of another, such as a player in a game who takes the place of an injured colleague

   2. Often shortened to: sub.  ( as modifier )

      a substitute goalkeeper

2. grammar another name for pro-form

3. another name for supply teacher

4. nautical another word for repeater

5. (formerly) a person paid to replace another due for military service

Usage

What does substitute mean? A substitute is someone or something that takes the place of another person or thing. As a verb, to substitute means to make such a switch. Substitute is used in a variety of contexts, but it is perhaps most commonly associated with substitute teachers and players in team sports who replace a player in the game. In both cases, the word is often shortened as sub. Example: Mr. Jones was sick today so we had a substitute.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• intersubstitutability
  noun
• intersubstitution
  noun
• nonsubstitution
  noun
• presubstitution
  noun
• substitutability
  noun
• substituter
  noun
• substitution
  noun
• presubstitute
  verb (used with object)
• intersubstitutable
  adjective
• nonsubstituted
  adjective
• nonsubstitutional
  adjective
• nonsubstitutionary
  adjective
• prosubstitution
  adjective
• substitutable
  adjective
• substitutional
  adjective
• substitutionary
  adjective
• unsubstituted
  adjective
• nonsubstitutionally
  adverb
• substitutingly
  adverb
• substitutionally
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• substitutes
  plural

Participles

• substituting
  present
• substituted
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• substitute
  simple
• substitutes
  simple
• have substituted
  perfect
• has substituted
  perfect
• am substituting
  progressive
• are substituting
  progressive
• is substituting
  progressive
• have been substituting
  perfect progressive
• has been substituting
  perfect progressive

Past

• substituted
  simple
• had substituted
  perfect
• was substituting
  progressive
• were substituting
  progressive
• had been substituting
  perfect progressive

Future

• will substitute
  simple
• will have substituted
  perfect
• will be substituting
  progressive
• will have been substituting
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of substitute

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Latin substitūtus “replaced,” past participle of substituere “to put in place of,” from sub- sub- + -stituere, combining form of statuere “to set up, erect” ( see substituent)

Explanation

Something or someone that takes the place of another is said to be a substitute. You may be sent into a game as a substitute for an injured player, or you might substitute chocolate chips for blueberries in a pancake recipe. Substitute can be used as an adjective to describe something or someone that takes the place of another. Teenagers are notoriously hard on substitute teachers, sometimes giving them fake names or wrong information about classroom work. Substitute can also be used as a verb. So if you are asked to substitute for a teacher, you probably shouldn't believe everything the students tell you!

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

substitute substitutes substituted substituting

I don’t mean to say that fiction is a substitute for a good education.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026

At least Mainoo did come on as a substitute for Amorim in the Premier League last season.

From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026

Corporate America’s AI playbook is changing as more businesses substitute proprietary AI models in favor of open alternatives to save on costs.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026

Michael Monahan will substitute for Beard for the remainder of the Big One, which will conclude its U.S. run on Oct.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026

As we passed Mr. Barley’s door, he was heard hoarsely muttering within, in a strain that rose and fell like wind, the following Refrain, in which I substitute good wishes for something quite the reverse:—

From "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens

With an hour gone, Marcus Rashford was introduced by Carrick as one of six substitutes.

From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026

In a world where influencers warn of spiked cortisol levels and disrupted circadian rhythms, plenty of consumers are turning to prebiotic sodas, sugar-free beverages, and refreshers as substitutes.

From Slate ● Aug. 14, 2026

New guidelines accompanied a government report citing research that linked sugar substitutes to conditions such as cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026

The competitive threat posed by cheaper Chinese substitutes has once again assailed semiconductor stocks, leading to dramatic falls in some of the biggest memory chip makers in Asia on Tuesday.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 28, 2026

Although Jack and Ethel had just met Bobby that summer, they were fast becoming parental substitutes for him.

From "Endgame" by Frank Brady

Its header, though, showed it came from his address, with IRS.GOV substituted.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026

While translating from Ottoman Turkish, an archivist substituted out the original owner and inserted Seit Shehu’s name instead, a court found.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 9, 2026

Rice, who suffered with a sickness bug in the lead-up to Saturday's quarter-final victory over Norway in Miami, was substituted at half-time.

From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026

They celebrated wildly, while Cristiano Ronaldo, who had earlier scored his first ever World Cup knockout goal for his country before being substituted, looked crestfallen on the bench.

From BBC ● Jul. 3, 2026

For brilliance he substituted shrewdness and a kind of daring.

From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson

"Instead of changing the team's tactics or style of play, Hong simply tried to solve the problem by substituting players."

From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026

“Nostalgia is basically substituting what you feel now for what actually happened then, right? I have no nostalgia for childhood summers because nothing happened.”

From Salon ● Jun. 24, 2026

Back in 2005, when Roberts rhapsodized about Indiana farmland and an endless horizon punctuated only by silos and barns, he was substituting a humble, real-life Midwest upbringing for his own.

From Slate ● May 7, 2026

With monthly updating of its weightings—the relative importance of different sectors—the index also better reflects shifts in consumer behavior, such as substituting pricier options for lower-cost alternatives.

From Barron's ● Apr. 22, 2026

And then Sierra complains about the frosting, and then they all sing, substituting insults for her name.

From "A Heart in a Body in the World" by Deb Caletti

Related Words

• backup
• replacement
• stand-in
• surrogate